An Oceanic Journal of Criticism

Tag: Education

Benjamin Franklin, an intellectual guy but not a member of any teacher’s union, famously said, “The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.” Perhaps this inspired Thomas Jefferson to propose creating a public school system, or what he called “a general diffusion of knowledge.” A couple hundred years later Franklin’s sentence was remodeled (some say by former Harvard President Derek Bok) and became “If you think education is expensive, try … Read More School Reform: Tax Anti-Intellectual Wealth

Today voters in 26 Wisconsin rural school districts are being asked to do what the State of Wisconsin won’t do: fully fund public education. Gov. Walker cut aid to school districts and reduced the raising of taxes while telling the school districts to find more money by giving less salary and benefits to teachers. Well, despite all the districts could do in the way of … Read More Wisconsin’s Rural Schools Must Now Go Begging

Speaking of thought or the lack of it in the United States at present, the OECD Survey of Adult Skills has found that American adults are, as a group, below average in both literacy and “numeracy”, or math. What is most disturbing is how poorly young adults in America are faring. A summary of the survey states, “American 55-65 year-olds perform around the average, but young … Read More Americans are below average